FFF ~ Anticipation & Anniversary

Time to ponder the past week and choose 5 favorites that you’d like to share and then link up with the lovely Susanne at Living to Tell the Story so the rest of us can click over and see your favorites.

This has been an interesting week of anticipating things that are happening this weekend and next week. Dear and I are flying to San Jose on Saturday morning for a wedding in Mt. Hermon and flying right back on Sunday. Then next week I’m making a solo trip to Canada for a few days. I’ll tell you more about both of these events next Friday…

The favorite thing we did this week was to celebrate Josh and Laura’s 9th anniversary.

 

Dear barbecued a Pork Butt for a very long time at a low temperature and we served it with coleslaw, barbecued beans and potato buns. It was very tasty.

Here are 5 favorite things about Josh and Laura in no particular order…

1. They give up a week of summer vacation to direct a Junior High Camp at Lakeside Bible Camp and they do an awesome job!

 

2. They love to go to Sounder’s games together and they take me along…

 

3. They cherish their friends and cousins and spend time with them.

 

4. They love their brothers and sisters.

 

5. They honor their parents and grandparents.

 

I told Josh and Laura this week that it makes me smile just to say their names together. We are so thankful to God that he brought them together and has blessed their relationship.

What were your favorites this past week?

Apple Walnut Crisp…

I went out to my apple tree and picked a few apples…

 

Then I tweaked a few apple crisp recipes and I’m happy with the result.

 

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Blessed Be His Name ~

Psalm 34:19 ~
Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Isaiah 43:1-3

But now, this is what the Lord says-
he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel;
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior….”

Isaiah 43:18-19~
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

So God promises to bring us through the wilderness. He does not abandon us. We can cling to these next great promises for our future…

Isaiah 35: 9,10 ~
But only the redeemed will walk there,
and the ransomed of the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Romans 15: 4~
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

So I hope these verses encourage you to know that in the midst of our wilderness times, our times in the desert, and times of affliction (which are inevitable here on this earth), our hope, the promise that sustains us and lets us say “blessed be the Lord” is that Jesus has gone before us on this wilderness road and He promises because of his saving grace to bring us through our wilderness to our amazing gift in the future in heaven with Him. We have a future with Him without “sorrow and sighing.”

Romans 15:13 ~
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Blessed be His Name!

 

More Yard Art from Tonasket!

This made me yell “Stop!” and my husband did so I could get a photo of this. A little nostalgia from days gone by. We really saw some of our best Yard Art in this little city east of the Cascades and just a hop skip and a jump from Canada.

Visit Mary at Work of the Poet for more Yard Art.

Have there been weeks for you when you live a day ahead of yourself anticipating events coming up soon. That has been this week for me. So here it is Wednesday and I’m posting for Thursday already. Better remind myself to live for today.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Republic Cemetery

I enjoy older cemeteries where there are still grave markers/monuments that are above ground. We found this cemetery on our travels to Eastern Washington in the city of Republic.

Republic, Washington is a city with an early 1900s look and a heritage based in the mining and logging industries. Originally named Eureka Gulch, Republic had a population of 954 in 2000. Noted for its fossils, natural beauty and recreational possibilities, it is nestled in a valley between Wauconda and Sherman Passes at the intersection of Washington State Routes 20 and 21 in the north central part of the state.

In 1898 a woman on horse back rode the hills around Republic, Washington looking for a suitable burial place for a man who’d recently died. At the time, Republic was a rough and tumble gold rush town filled to the brim with miners, and as yet hadn’t established a cemetery. That all changed when a man named Patrick Callahan died in Republic’s first mining-related accident.

 

The woman was Mrs. John Stack, and she selected a grassy hillside to the north of town for Callahan’s grave site In 1915, the Republic Cemetery Association was formed, and the location on Klondike Road became the town’s official cemetery. The Republic Cemetery Association’s records now report 1500 burial sites, with 900 more available.

 

Unfortunately a number of early wooden grave markers were lost when well-intentioned citizens attempted to use a controlled burn to remove weeds that had grown up around the edges of the cemetery. The fire burned out of control. Fred Bremnar of the Republic Cemetery Association described it as “…a good deed, gone bad.” Sadly, there are no written records of those grave sites.

The panoramic view of the San Poil River and Curlew Lake valleys and the Kettle Range beyond can only be described as mesmerizing.

 

 

 

 

Dear went back to work this week and I’m trying to get things organized around here before we fly off to a wedding in California this weekend. Today I’m going to mow the weeds! If I didn’t have weeds I wouldn’t have to mow since my grass isn’t growing. We are having another sunny warmer spell here but it still feels like Fall in the air. Blessings!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

If You Steal…

…them from family is it really stealing? I right clicked on these photos my niece took while they were visiting us here in the Northwest. Thank you niece!

Dear is making his famous Swedish Pancakes for the crowd below and they were all very happy to eat them! And yes we serve them with sour cream and syrup!

 

 

Family time at Qwest Field for Seattle Sounders Soccer! Ole Ole Ole Ole!!

Our sweet little Soccer Fan!

Our beautiful daughter!

 

Dear and me enjoying dinner out with the family.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Marine Mosaic Blue!

AND RUBY, TOO! I’m adding this to Ruby Tuesday with Mary at Work of the Poet.

 

Our daughter is in love with a Marine. She and I are going to be traveling to South Carolina via the Savannah airport in late September to witness his graduation. It will be our first trip to the South and minus the humidity and mosquitoes we’re looking forward to the trip. She found this fleece fabric and made a blanket for him. Projects have been a good way for her to pass the time since snail mail is the only communication they have these days. I’m glad she gets to experience the wonderful art of letter writing and the anticipation of receiving a letter in the mail.

Please pray for my daughter’s marine Andrew as he’s being pushed to his physical and mental limits and pray for all our guys out there serving us and our country!  Thank you. I’ll give him a hug for all of you when I see him in September.

For Blue Monday please visit Sally at Smiling Sally and for Mosaic Monday please click over to Mary’s at The Little Red House.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Holy Father, in Thy Mercy ~ Hymn

 

Holy Father, In Thy Mercy

Holy Father, in Thy mercy,
Hear our anxious prayer.
Keep our loved ones, now far distant,
’Neath Thy care.

Jesus, Savior, let Thy presence
Be their light and guide;
Keep, oh, keep them, in their weakness,
At Thy side.

When in sorrow, when in danger,
When in loneliness,
In Thy love look down and comfort
Their distress.

May the joy of Thy salvation
Be their strength and stay;
May they love and may they praise Thee
Day by day.

Holy Spirit, let Thy teaching
Sanctify their life;
Send Thy grace, that they may conquer
In the strife.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
God the One in Three,
Bless them, guide them, save them, keep them
Near to Thee.

Words: Isabella S. Stephenson, 1869

She wrote this hymn af­ter her bro­ther was sent to South Af­ri­ca for health rea­sons. It was sung on the HMS Bac­chante, and pub­lished in the Man­u­al of Com­mon Pray­er at Sea, 1886.

ht: Cyberhymnal

It’s Saturday…

What are you doing?

 

I walked out to the garage this morning and I got a very distinct feel of fall in the air. Yikes is summer coming to a close so soon? I think I’ve decided that I am a lot fonder of the beginning of a season then the end of a season…

Since Dear has been on vacation this week I really haven’t made any plans. I just wait to see what he’s up to. We had an overnight at the beginning of his vacation to Eastern Washington but for the rest of the time we’ve just been hanging around the homestead. We spotted these animals in the East. I’m glad this guy was of the carved variety…

Have a wonderful day wherever you are and whatever you are doing!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ From the East…

Susanne has flown the coop but she didn’t leave the nest without getting Friday’s Fave Five ready for all of us. Dear is on vacation this week so we headed to Eastern Washington for an overnight on Monday. Our goal was to check out the area our middle son will be moving to later this year. We had a traffic free journey driving through many small towns. Here are five favorite shots from our trip.

 

Coming East on Highway 20 from Republic to Colville. I love seeing the layers of mountains.

 

Looking back at Colville sitting next to the Colville National Forest.

 

Roosevelt Lake area near Rice, Wa. fed by the Columbia River.

 

One of the many one store towns we drove through.

 

We crossed rivers, drove by lakes and saw at least 4 dams on this trip. It was really hot so just seeing the water was a nice relief to the heat. I’d like to do the trip again when it’s cooler and when getting out of the car to walk around and take photos would be more pleasant. Here’s a post with some of the churches we saw.

We’ve had a nice cool down here in Western Washington with some rain expected on Sunday. How are things in your neck of the woods?

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.